World Music CD Reviews Reggae & Caribbean

Winston Hubert McIntosh’s musical legacy was sealed the moment he moved to the Trenchtown district of Kingston and met Robert Nesta Marley and his stepbrother Neville O’Riley Livingston in 1961 and formed the Teenagers. After tutoring with music producer Joe Higgs, they changed their name to the Wailing Wailers and released the single “Simmer Down” in 1963 and the Wailers became famous. While the focus would later be on Bob Marley, the spiritual side of the group, the talent and abilities of the peacekeeper Neville (now known as Bunny Wailer) and the more militant Peter Tosh were pushed to the side. Black Dignity focuses on early singles of the Wailers, solo work and versions of Tosh songs covered by others, all between the years of 1969 and 1972, years before Tosh would become a solo giant of his own with Legalize It in 1976. While most of these songs have been on CD before, it is enlightening to have them together, especially with those versions by other reggae artists. “Them a fe a Beaten” and “Maga Dog” show the early smoke of a reggae legend catching fire.